STAFF
Debbie Palmer
Vice President
&
Girls Program Director
Debbie moved to Illinois from Medina, Ohio in 1997 to join the Palmer's coaching staff. Debbie's coaching background includes coaching developmental gymnasts through level 10 national qualifiers. She has qualifed over twenty 7 - 11 yr. old gymnasts to the TOP National Team over the past 10 years.
At the age of 5, Debbie began gymnastics at Fegley's Gymnastics School in New Jersey. After her family moved to Ohio, she continued her gymnastics career at Gymnastics World, advancing to the Class I level.
She holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Communications from the University ofAkron and a Masters of Arts Degree in Education from Baldwin Wallace College. Debbie is a certified elementary education & reading teacher in the state of Illinois.
Through USA Gymnastics, Debbie holds the following professional certifications: Safety Certified, Professional Member, K.A.T. Certified, Skill Evaluator, Meet Director, and PDP Levels I and II accreditations.
In her spare time, Debbie enjoys traveling, skiing, swimming, listening to music, and spending time with Neil. Although she loves all sports, her heart belongs to gymnastics.
Neil Palmer
President
&
Boys Program Director
Neil earned a full gymnastics scholarship to the University of Nebraska. As a Cornhusker, he became an NCAA All-American, and a member of the United States National Team. Some top accomplishments include: Competing in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Trials, and winning the A.A. Championship at the 1987 United States Olympic Festival.
Neil has been coaching developmental through team-level boys and girls gymnastics since the age of 15. He plans to develop Palmer's boys and girls into national-level competitors, as a stepping stone to producing collegiate scholarship winners.
Jake Luketin
Gymnastics Coach
Jake attended Lake Park High School where he was a stand out member of the Boys Gymnastics Team.
Since graduating college, Jake has coached gymnastics at Springfield College and was the Assistant Girls Gymnastics Coach at Glenbard West High School.
Jake brings with him a true knowledge of gymnastics, as well as a love of the sport.
Pam Kennedy
Gymnastics Coach
Pam attended Wheaton College during her freshman year, where she competed All-around on their gymnastics team. During this time she received All American status on vault in the AIAW National Gymnastics Meet placing 4th. During her sophomore year Pam transferred to UW-LaCrosse and competed All-around for three more years. During her senior year Pam once again earned All American honors placing 1st on Beam in the NAIG National Meet. Pam earned her Bachelors of Science degree in physical education and later earned her Maters of Arts Teaching degree from Aurora University.
After college, Pam continued in gymnastics in the form of coaching. She was the head coach for the high school team in La Crescent, MN as well as Lake Forest High School, Mundelein High School, and St. Charles High School. She also was the gym coordinator and team coach at the Gymnastics Factory in Lake Forest.
Pam currently lives with her husband and two sons, Ryan & TJ who are members of our Boys competitive team. Pam's husband Tom (a two time member of the United States Gymnastics Team) has been seen coaching at Palmer's from time to time as well. As you can see, gymnastics is a HUGE part of the Kennedy family, and they are happy to be involved here at Palmer's Gymnastics! GO PALMER'S!!
Jake Kueker
No Bio Available

Meghan Court
Gymnastics Coach
During the school year Meghan competes on her Varsity gymnastics team at Glenbard North High School where she made All Conference on Vault during the 2004 - 2005 season and Floor & Beam during the 2005-2006 season. Meghan was also a State qualifier during the 2005-2006 season. Meghan is also a member of the Varsity Track Team placing 3rd in her conference on Pole Vault.
As well as gymnastics, Meghan also enjoys Dance & running. She enjoys working with our younger team members.
Philippe Flegeau
Gymnastics Instructor
Philippe began gymnastics at the age of six, and continued until he was a National Level competitor in his hometown of Lanester, France. During his competitive career, he traveled throughout Europe and was a member of his nation’s 2nd place team in the 1988 French National Championships.
Before moving to the United States, he worked 15 years as a military fireman in Paris, and rose to the rank of sergeant. During that time, he won an all-around silver medal in a military gymnastics competition…outscoring 4,000 other competitors!
Philippe began coaching gymnastics at the age of 16, and also gained experience as a gymnastics judge while in France.
Philippe has lived in Bloomingdale, Illinois since March of 2002, with his wife and twelve-year-old daughter. Philippe’s daughter enjoys swimming. His cat, Willy, understands French and English!
Catherine Gonzales
Gymnastics Instructor
Catherine has been involved gymnastics since she herself was a tot. She competed through the collegiate level, while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Secondary Physical Education from Northeastern Illinois University on a full scholarship. Catherine taught high school Physical Education for 8 years where she was the assistant gymnastics coach for both the boys and girls varsity teams.
Catherine is currently the Level 4/5/6 coach, and assists at all gymnastics levels. She also is the “Class of the Month” director.
She lives in Glen Ellyn with her husband and two children, both who are involved in gymnastics here at Palmer’s.
Sue Hall
Gymnastics Instructor
Sue grew up in Hillside, IL, one of fourteen children. She attended St. Domitilla grammar school and Proviso West High School. Sue has been married to her husband, Jake, for 20 years. They have three children, Jacky, 19, Nikki, 14, and Joey, 9. Together they enjoy sports and generally any outside activity.
Sue’s coaching experience includes heading up the gymnastics program in Elk Grove Village for the past four years. There she taught Parent Tot through Level 3 gymnastics. She also taught cheernasitcs, a combination of cheer and gymnastics. Sue has worked with children her whole life and looks forward to working with the children here at Palmer’s Gymnastics. She is proud and excited to be a part of the Palmer’s Team!
Leonard Palmer
Tumbling Director
After WWII, he met his wife, and got involved in Adagio Dancing. They were married in 1950 and opened their first Dance and Tumbling Studio. Mr. Palmer lives in Addison with his wife, and has 7 children.
His 50+ years of commitment have turned him into a legendary tumbling coach in the state of Illinois. Among his accomplishments; developing the spring floor that is used throughout the gymnastics world today!
Dawn Lagerstedt
Gymnastics Coach/ Birthday Party Director
Dawn grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois. She graduated from Western Illinois University with a Bachelors of Science in Art Education K-12. While working in School District 81, in Schiller Park, Illinois, she earned a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University in Forest Park, Illinois.
Dawn has worked with children from kindergarten through eighth grade for the past 21 years in the area of visual art. Dawn has also spent the last 4 years as a camp counselor at Lake Owen Gymnastics Camp where she was promoted to “Recreation Director” this past summer. She has also held a leadership position within the local Girl Scout Council and led a Girl Scout troop for 8 years.
Dawn lives in Carol Stream with her husband, daughter, and three cats. Her daughter, Melanie has been attending Palmer’s for several years. Dawn enjoys working with the Birthday Parties here at Palmer’s, helping the Birthday child and their guests have a great time!

Carlos Fuentes
Carlos began doing gymnastics as a freshman at Glenbard East High School where he competed for four years. He was primarily a floor, vault, and high bar specialist.
Carlos began his coaching career at the age of 18 coaching the Glenbard East boy’s gymnastics team where he stayed for six years. In 2005, our team at Glenbard West made it to State as a team for the first time in school history.
Carlos has had the opportunity to coach gymnasts of all ages and skill levels from beginner to Level 10. He has coached several teams to conference and regional championships and has had over twenty state qualifiers, finalists, and medalists.
Carlos has a bachelor’s degree in the teaching of Spanish from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is currently a high school Spanish teacher at Glenbard West High School. He is also the Head Girls Gymnastics coach at Glenbard West.
Carlos currently lives in Wheaton with his two Chihuahuas, Poncho and Fernando.
Kristin Nordquist
Gymnastics Coach
Kristin began her career at Palmers as a student. Kristin progressed quickly and soon joined our competitive team program where she competed through Level 7. During the school year Kristin competes on her Varsity gymnastics team at Glenbard North High School.
As well as gymnastics, Kristin also enjoys cheerleading. She enjoys working with our younger team members.
Justin Toronyi
Boys Team Gymnastics Coach
Justin started gymnastics at the age of 5 and has been a part of Palmer’s Gymnastics since the age of 7 and had been coached by Neil Palmer that entire time. He has worked his way through USA Gymnastics competing in all state and regional competitions from Class 5 to Class 1. In 2001 he qualified for the Junior Olympic National Championships but a week prior to the competition, he was involved in a car accident which left him paralyzed. Determined to stick with the sport he grew up with, Justin changed roles from gymnast to coach.
After a couple of months of tough rehabilitation, Justin continued with school and graduated with his class in 2002. He has attended classes at Northern Illinois University and the College of DuPage with ambitions to get his degree in Sports Psychology. He loves the sport of gymnastics and what can be learned and used from it, throughout a gymnast’s life.
Justin also enjoys music and is a BIG Chicago Cubs Fan. He lives in Roselle with his family and dog, Tsuki.
Kristen Lewarchick
Tot and Youth Gymnastics Coach/
Office Staff
Kristen recently moved to the area from Quincy, IL where she taught 1st grade. She currently lives in St. Charles with her husband Tim and three boys, Andrew, Kyle, and Logan. Coaching runs in the family, as Tim coaches National Level swimmers in St. Charles!
Kristen grew up in Medina, Ohio with her sister Debbie (Palmer). She began gymnastics at the age of 7 at Gymnastics World in Broadview Heights, Ohio. She was a competitive level gymnast for over 10 years. Kristen has coached Pre-school through High School level gymnastics for 9 years.
Kristen graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in Elementary Education and has taught elementary school in Akron, Ohio and Quincy, IL. She is currently certified to teach Kindergarten through Ninth grade in Illinois.
In her spare time Kristen takes her boys to soccer games, swim meets, gymnastics practices, etc. She enjoys going on bike rides, going to the beach and watching movies with her kids
Courtney Trainor
Courtney started gymnastics at the age of 7 here at Palmer’s. She competed through Level 8 before competing for her High School Gymnastics Team.
Courtney began coaching at the age of 16 and has continued for 5 years. She now attends Elmhurst College and will graduate in February with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and a minor in English.
Courtney lives in Elmhurst with her two Chihuahua’s, Poncho and Fernando. Poncho is very energetic and can perform a handstand and a forward roll, while Fernando’s only talent is sleeping! Courtney loves the sport of gymnastics and enjoys coaching here at Palmer’s as well as at Glenbard West High School. In her spare time, Courtney loves to read and watch Grey’s Anatomy.
Laura Caldarone
Office Staff
Laura worked for United Airlines for 8 years. While there she worked in many capacities including her favorite, as a Customer Service (Gate Agent) at O’Hare Airport. Laura also spent time in the reservations sales office. Laura began working for Palmer’s in the fall of 2006 and also works part-time for a clock manufacturing company in production, sales and marketing. When time permits, Laura is usually baking her “almost famous” Italian Biscotti Cookies from her side business out of her home.
In her spare time, (and we do mean spare), Laura enjoys scrap booking, selling and buying on Ebay, and shopping until she drops! She has been involved in gymnastics with her daughter for the past seven years.
Laura and her husband Sal have two daughters, Gabriella and Ariana. They live in Schaumburg and have a guinea pig named licorice. Ariana is a member Palmer’s Gymnastics Team and Gabriella plays travel softball for the Schaumburg Sluggers.
Maria Sharp
Office Staff
Maria has been a parent at Palmer’s since March of 2001. She currently lives in Hanover Park with her husband and three children, but she grew up here in Bloomingdale. While Maria’s son enjoys football and baseball, her daughter enjoys spending as much time as possible here at Palmer’s! Maria’s youngest daughter is still too young to decide!
When Maria was young she enjoyed participating in gymnastics classes. After her school years, Maria worked in the child care industry for 11 years. Once her own children were born, she decided that staying at home was a better option for her family.
Once her children started school, Maria worked in the school, helping her children’s teachers, working in the lunchroom, as well as working in the office.
Maria now looks forward to working in our office and getting to know all of the families here at Palmer’s!
Marina Krueger
Dance Team Director
Marina has performed at Chicago Human Rhythm Project and taught and performed at Minnesota’s Tappin’ in the Twin Cities Tap Festival. She has taken master classes from Savion Glover and performed for Gregory Hines. She has shared the stage with several tap legends including the Nicholas Brothers.
Marina has recently founded her own rhythm tap company in 2002 called 'Tap Tap'. They recently performed in Orlando, Florida. She is currently teaching around the Chicagoland area and is now the Dance Team Director for Palmer’s Gymnastics & Dance.
Tiffany Ghrist
Dance Instructor
No Bio Available
Sandra "Sandy" Scaletta
Dance Instructor
Sandra has performed with Ruth Page’s Chicago Ballet for several productions of the 'Nutcracker' at Aire Crown Theatre as well as other concerts with artistic director Larry Long. She was a piano accompanist for Ruth Page’s 'Nutcracker'. She has performed with many Chicago choreographers in both classical and contemporary works. She has also danced with opera companies 'Carmina Burana', with several symphonies and has performed roles in 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Swan Lake'.
In 1975 she became director of the ballet program at Beverly Art Center in Chicago for ten years. In 1982 she established Beverly Dance Ensemble, a professional dance company consisting of ten dancers that performed a classical and contemporary repertoire. She collaborated with notable choreographers, such as Thomas Pazik of the Atlanta Ballet and Anna Paskevska of the Paris Opera Ballet. The company performed concerts throughout Illinois for theatres and universities for five years. Sandra has performed children’s pieces including the full production of 'Peter and the Wolf' and 'Carnival of the Animals'.
Sandra has a vast teaching experience. She has taught for thirty dance schools for the past 25 years in Chicago, Florida and Indiana. She has been a choreographer for several years and has staged the full production of 'Sleeping Beauty' for Studio II in Buffalo Grove, 'Swan Lake', 'Nutcracker' and musicals 'Anything Goes' and 'The King and I'. She is currently director of Ballet North School and the Artistic Director of Ballet North Ensemble. She is also on faculty at Fauborg Ballet in Hanover Park, at DuPage Dance Academy in Elmhurst, at Dance Ed in Northbrook and at Palmer’s School of Dance in Bloomingdale, Illinois
Kathy Amodeo
Office Personnel
Kathy has been involved with Palmer’s for over 4 years. She lives in Carol Stream with her husband and two children. Her daughter, Mikaela loves gymnastics and is on the Optional Team here at Palmer’s. Her son, Anthony is very active in baseball and football.
In her spare time she enjoys reading, scrapbooking and spending time with her family including her two Chihuahuas, Chili and Chiquita.
Michelle Bossle
Office Personnel
She resigned from her part-time computer-programming job at Oakton Community College in order to be home full-time with her children. She does still keep up her programming skills by doing some consulting work for the college.
She and her family live in Roselle and are within walking distance of Trinity Lutheran Church and School where all the girls go to school. Now that the youngest has started Kindergarten, Michelle has gone back to work part-time at Trinity. Starting in the Fall of 2004, Michelle is a teacher’s aide in the 3rd Grade classroom. If and when she has any 'free' time, she enjoys relaxing by the pool, water skiing and reading.
Linda Court
Office Manager
Linda has her degree in Early Childhood Education and prior to working in the Public School system, worked with young children in the Pre School setting for many years.
Linda lives in Carol Stream with her husband and two children.
Anna Pudlo
Office Personnel
She also works full time for the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, located in downtown Chicago, as a Senior Hazard Mitigation Specialist.
Anna also teaches first through fourth grade Religious Education at her local church.
Debbie Terry
Office Personnel
Debbie is the fourth oldest out of nine children and has 16 nephews and 4 nieces. She is originally from South Bend, Indiana, and the only one who lives out of state, so there are many road trips to Indiana for her and her family. Debbie is married and currently lives in Carol Stream with her husband and three children.
Management
Gymnastics
Carlos Fuentes
Catherine Gonzales
Sue Hall
Jake Kueker
Dawn Lagerstedt
Kristen Lewarchick
Jake Luketin
Leonard Palmer
Justin Toronyi
Courtney Trainor
Dance
Marina KruegerOffice
Linda Court
Maria Sharp
Debbie Terry